Alaska - Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska Regional Action Plans (ARAP)

WHAT:The ARAP was developed to increase the production, delivery, and use of climate-related information required to fulfill the NOAA Fisheries mission in the region. The ARAP identifies priority needs and specific actions to implement the NOAA Fisheries Climate Science Strategy in the region over the next three to five years.

WHERE: NOAA’s Alaska Fisheries Science Center is responsible for marine resources in five large marine ecosystems--the southeastern Bering Sea, the Gulf of Alaska, the Aleutian Islands, the northern Bering and Chukchi seas and the Beaufort Sea. The first ARAP focuses on the southeastern Bering Sea because it supports large marine mammal and bird populations and some of the most profitable and sustainable commercial fisheries in the United States.

WHY: The waters around Alaska support some of the most valuable commercial fisheries in the world. Large numbers of seabirds and marine mammals also are found here and subsistence harvests are a critical resource for coastal communities. Climate-related changes in ocean and coastal ecosystems are already impacting the fish, seabirds, and marine mammals as well as the people, businesses, and communities that depend on these living marine resources. Demand for actionable information on how, why, and when climate change will impact this region is growing.